Jean Chiappe

Jean Chiappe (3 May 1878-27 November 1940) was Paris Police Prefect from 1927 to 1934 and a civil servant of Vichy France. He was accidentally shot down by Italian planes while flying to Beirut to assume the position of High Commissioner of the Levant.

Biography
Jean Chiappe was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, France on 3 May 1878, and he came to work for the Interior Ministry after studying law. Chiappe served as Director of General Security from 1924 to 1927 and Police Prefect of Paris from 1927 to 1934, and he was close to monarchist circles and was affiliated with the "Independent Republican" fringe of the conservative Republican Federation party. Successive leftist governments tried in vain to dislodge him, and his removal as Prefect of Police by President Edouard Daladier on 6 February 1934 led to far-right demonstrations against the government. Chiappe reappeared in 1940 when the government of Vichy France appointed Chiappe to serve as Governor-General of the French Levant; his plane was shot down near Cyprus on his way to Beirut on 27 Novebmber 1940, with the Italian air force mistaking his plane for a British one.